


hornblower/kennedy 3

by romanticalgirl



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-08
Updated: 2013-04-08
Packaged: 2017-12-07 20:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted 7-20-08</p>
    </blockquote>





	hornblower/kennedy 3

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 7-20-08

“What do you do on your long walks?” Archie doesn’t look at Horatio, doesn’t look up from the tattered book Horatio had brought from his dinner with the Don, the one he has spent the morning staring at, not seeing any of the words. 

“We talk.” Horatio stares at the ceiling, his arms resting low on his stomach, and he appears at ease, though Archie can sense the tenseness and alertness that seems to never dissipate. 

“What do you talk about?”

“Books. Plays. Society. She tells me of Lords and Ladies that I should make sure to duly impress should I find myself in their company. She tells me of buildings that are worth seeing and buildings worth being seen in. She’s quite knowledgeable on all things of society.”

“She thinks you’ll be in their bosom soon, does she? Instead of rotting away in a Spanish prison?” Archie wants to do more than glance at him out of the corner of his eye, wants to look at him head on and confront this feeling that tugs at his gut – this hard, painful realization, this self-same feeling that makes him inherently sick to his own stomach. He noted it when Jack first turned his attentions to Horatio, and named it one night in the cold drench of fear, attempting to swallow it along with his tongue during his seizure. It is jealousy, eating him alive like consumption. Not of Simpson’s attentions to Horatio but that Horatio, in dealing with Simpson, was no longer exclusively his own.

“I would assume she thinks I have promise. Or perhaps she hopes that by showing me the high society that possibly awaits me, I will feel invigorated to break out of here and rush to the bright lights of London.” There’s mockery in Horatio’s tone, though it is not directed at Archie, or even at the Duchess. It is simply society that Horatio spurns, unwilling to want something that he is so sure could not want him back. “Foolishness all around.”

“You don’t wish to be the pinnacle of society, Horatio?” Archie lies back on the cot, feeling the roughness of the canvas beneath him through his too thin clothes. “To be respected and admired and coveted?”

“You know me better than that, Archie.” Horatio slides off his bed, moving to Archie’s cot to sit beside him. His hand lights on Archie’s stomach, fingers warm against the fabric. Archie closes his eyes and reflects that he does know Horatio better, and it is that sole reason he knows the words that evoke this reaction. “Or do you truly think me the type to seek the good favor of society?”

“I think you are the type whom will one day have society seeking to curry his favor.” He lays his hand carefully on top of Horatio’s, careful not to apply untoward pressure. It is enough to be touched like this, with warmth and innocence and honest affection. To desire more would be to become like Simpson, to take what he wants at the risk of harm to everyone else. He will take this, what Horatio gives him willingly, and ask for nothing else.


End file.
